Secwepemc Tribes Fight New Mines and Old Laws in British Columbiaby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogOctober 22nd, 2014Indigenous activists burned down a bridge in British Columbia, Canada, to prevent Imperial Metals from starting a lead and zinc mine on the lands of the Secwepemc peoples. Local tribes say that the mine may severely impact the one of the largest remaining sockeye salmon populations in the world.

Ten Killed At African Barrick Operations in Tanzaniaby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogAugust 26th, 2014As many as 10 people have been killed by police this year at African Barrick Gold's operations in Tanzania, according to a new report from two NGOs - MiningWatch Canada and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) in the UK.

Coca-Cola Forced To Shut Bottling Plant in Indiaby Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch BlogJuly 10th, 2014Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage producer, has been ordered to shut down its bottling plant in Varanasi, India following local complaints that the company was drawing excessive amounts of groundwater. After an investigation, government authorities ruled that the company had violated its operating license.

Soco International Says It Will Cancel Oil Exploration in Congo's Virunga Parkby Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch Blog June 23rd, 2014Soco International PLC, a UK oil company, has claimed that it will halt oil exploration in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), following complaints by local communities and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) about the potential environmental impact.

Peabody Coal Accused of False Advertising for Claiming to Stop Energy Povertyby Rozali Telbis, CorpWatch BlogApril 28th, 2014 WWF Europe has filed a complaint for false advertising against Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal mining company, after the company began a campaign to promote the use of coal in developing countries, claiming that so-called "clean coal" technology could eradicate poverty.

Anglo American Workers Strike Against Contract Labor Conditions in Chileby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogMarch 25th, 2014Some 4,000 contract workers at Los Bronces copper mine in Chile went on strike against Anglo American, a UK-based mining multinational from South Africa. The strike is the latest in a series of protests against the Chilean copper industry, the world’s largest producers of the metal.

Unpublished Audit of Kaloti Reveal Conflicts Over Gold Tradeby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogFebruary 28th, 2014A whistleblower who previously worked for Ernst & Young, the international auditing firm, has alleged that his bosses turned a blind eye to discoveries that Kaloti Jewellery International – one of the world’s biggest gold companies - dealt in minerals from undocumented sources that may have included conflict zones.

Sámi Fight Iron Mine in Reindeer Countryby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogDecember 29th, 2013This past Christmas, while children around the world wrote letters to Santa Claus whom they believed would deliver presents to them in a sleigh drawn by the mythical Rudolph, the actual human companions of the Arctic reindeer spent their holidays worrying about Beowulf, a British mining company.

Fracking Argentina: Chevron Teams Up With YPFby Richard SmallteacherOctober 16th, 2013YPF, the Argentinian state-owned oil company, has signed an agreement with Chevron in the U.S. to extract shale gas and oil using fracking technology in the southern Andes mountains. Local environmental and indigenous activists are gearing up for a fight to stop the controversial technology.

Privatization Profiteers from Pinochet’s Chile May Yet Face Prisonby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogSeptember 17th, 2013Julio Ponce, the billionaire owner of Sociedad Quimica & Minera de Chile (SQM), faces ten years in prison for insider trading. A beneficiary of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet, Ponce is charged with buying company shares at below market prices and selling them at a profit.

Battle of Balcombe: Opposition to Cuadrilla Resources UK Fracking Plansby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogJuly 31st, 2013The idyllic village of Balcombe, just south of London, is a stronghold of the Conservative party. Just the sort of place that one might imagine cheering on industry plans to drill for natural gas and applaud the tax breaks that the government has offered to industry.

Halliburton Admits Guilt in Gulf of Mexico Cover-Upby Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch BlogJuly 26th, 2013Halliburton has admitted that it destroyed evidence after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. The company has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine, make a donation of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and accept three years of probation.

Lobbyists for Canadian Pipeline Have Deep Ties to White Houseby Pratap ChatterjeeMay 31st, 2013TransCanada and the provincial government of Alberta are paying former advisors to the Obama administration - as well as former staff of the Hillary Clinton and John Kerry presidential campaigns - to help them lobby for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to transport tar sands fuel to the U.S.

Arch Coal Denied Permission to Blow Up West Virginia Mountainby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogApril 25th, 2013A subsidiary of Arch Coal of St. Louis, Missouri, was denied permission to dump nearly three billion cubic feet of dirt into local headwater streams after blowing up a mountain in West Virginia. The object was to extract coal from a project known as the Spruce No. 1 Surface Mine.

Arch Coal Wants Permission to Blow Up West Virginia Mountainby Puck Lo, CorpWatch BlogApril 24th, 2013A subsidiary of Arch Coal of St. Louis, Missouri, wants permission to dump nearly three billion cubic feet of dirt into local headwater streams after blowing up a mountain in West Virginia. The object is to extract coal from a project known as the Spruce No. 1 Surface Mine.

Alstom Officials Paid Bribes To Win Indonesian Coal Contracts
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogApril 22nd, 2013Alstom, a French engineering company, has been accused of bribing Indonesian officials to win a lucrative contract to build coal power plans in Sumatra. Frederic Pierucci, a French employee of the company, was arrested and David Rothschild, a U.S. employee, has pled guilty.

Guatemalan Lawsuit Against Canadian Mining Giant May Set Precedentby Jennifer Kennedy, CorpWatch BlogApril 19th, 2013A lawsuit against HudBay Minerals in Canada for human rights abuses in Guatemala is the next case to watch for corporate accountability activists after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a case against Shell for aiding and abetting human rights abuses in Nigeria.

U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Shell in Nigeriaby Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch BlogApril 17th, 2013In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against Shell in Nigeria for human rights abuses in the Ogoni region. The ruling effectively blocks other lawsuits against foreign multinationals for human rights abuse that have occurred overseas from being brought in U.S. courts.

Protests Against Posco Steel Plant Mount In Indiaby Freny Manecksha, CorpWatch BlogApril 14th, 2013For over a month, villagers in the eastern Indian state of Odisha have been conducting a sit-in to demand the withdrawal of armed police officers at the site of a proposed $12 billion steel complex to be built by Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) of South Korea.